What if you could choose a birthday present for me?

You have two days to make your choice. If you could think of anything to give to the blogger who brings a little humor and entertainment into the world through this site ,Okay, What If?, JED’s Playhouse and the recently launched Multiverse Fiction Challenge what would you choose?

I expect something really nice, especially since it is going to be a blogging world gift only and its for the big 4-0. I don’t think I have ever revealed my true identity (or should I say alter-ego or maybe secret identity to make it sound even cooler) so you don’t need to worry about shipping charges or where to send it, just tell me what you think I deserve. Please be nice about it though. I am a bit stressed already from gaining a new number at the beginning of my age and not just the end.

A little about me to help you choose. I have a loving wife I enjoy spending lots of time with and our family includes a total of three dogs and a cat. I’m a guy who likes a lot of silly things including comic books, horror movies and cartoons. You will probably never catch me on a motorcycle or in a speed boat but I enjoy the occasional nature walk. I love watching sports and am a pretty big Red Sox fan and NASCAR enthusiast.

The big birthday bash is going to start tomorrow night at about six. The get together will include hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, ice cream, cake and a few alcoholic beverages. Please be prepared to watch me stumble around drunkenly after the 9 o’clock hour. Bring your own barf bag if you are unable to maintain your composure.

So let’s hear it. What do you think a good fortieth birthday present is. Remember, these are the last days I can truthfully say I’m in my thirties. After Sunday I’ll have to lie about it, which I’ll probably do for a while.

 

What if the last year of your life was a dream?

I went back through some of my old post ideas and drafts today looking for a good subject to write about and came across this question I had posed to myself very early in my blogging career. The draft was dated in July of 2013 and had the title you see What if the last year of your life was a dream? and then just a single paragraph written with no real meaning.

It started me thinking what made me think up this subject back then and what made me find it now? Would I want to find out I had been living a dream? It has been a tough year with quite a bit of loss and very little gain. Still the thought of it could always be worse creeps into my head. And I know that as bad as it has been , I have survived through it and the family is still intact despite the losses. These facts I am proud to have been a part of and would hate to see taken away.

Of course I would be overjoyed to find out my dad hadn’t passed, but if it meant he was still suffering as he had in his last couple months it would quickly break my heart. I’m not sure I could have taken much more of that roller coaster ride and seeing the way my mom suffered through it. I know she is still suffering now but she knows the situation and is dealing with it as best she can. Before the not knowing and the constant worry was just too much for all of us in the family.

I believe my wife would agree with me and feel the same about the loss of her Granny. She was a tough woman who had raised a battalion of children and grands but her time was called and we believe she was ready to answer. Sadly she has been joined by two of her children in the following months and this has made for a very tough year for that family. My wife has dealt with it all and remained intact. She has let the worry she has for her father be the focal point of her pain. As long as she can help him through it I believe is what has kept her strong.

It this had all been a dream what a horrible one it would have been. To find out all this was only a dream and then to possibly have to relive it later would be unbearable. I would rather my dreams be about lottery winnings, driving race cars or being a secret agent helping save the world. These are the things I want to remember when I find out it was all a dream.

No, I don’t think I would want to find out the last year was a dream. As much as it has been painful, some good has come out of it. My family is stronger having gone through the pain together and become even closer than we were before. The relationship between my wife and me has lasted through these tough patches and we are past the first five years of marriage (Seven later this year). We still care for each other as we did on our wedding day and I wouldn’t want to lose a day of that.

WordPress has also been a big part of my past year and I wouldn’t want to know the friends I’ve found here were only part of some dream. Why this post spoke to me so much today I’m not sure, but it was a subject I needed to think on. Thank you for listening to my thoughts.

It’s almost time for bed here so it won’t be long before I head that way. I hope I can dream about those race cars tonight. I really want to hoist that trophy and take a bath in bubbly at the winner’s circle.

News on the What if? writing challenge – Updates – The end?

The February writing challenge two-fer is still running and needs a little participation. You still have until February 27th to add your link and tell us your take on What if you went viral? or What if you discovered a new civilization? Just click the link above and add your post to the inlinks link-up provided there. You can then come back on February 28th and vote for your three favorite posts.

After much debate and inner turmoil I have decided to suspend the What if? challenges once this one is complete. The past challenges are all still open and you can add a link to them if you see one you would like to do.

I have been trying to decide for a couple months now the best way to handle the decline in participants on the most recent challenges. It appears to me that they may be getting a bit lost or muddled up with the regular daily posts on the Okay, What if? blog. For this reason I debated moving them to their own blog dedicated only to the challenge.

After a little more thought I decided this too could cause a bit of confusion between the two blogs and may lead to problems separating the two. For this reason I chose to suspend the What if? challenges for now. Please let me say to all those that have participated to this point I really appreciate your support and the joy you have brought me and others with your challenge responses.

Since I have enjoyed the ability to put forth a challenge and read others takes on said challenge I do not want to give it up completely quite that easily. I have made the decision to begin a fresh challenge with it’s very own dedicated site. It is very similar to my former challenges but should have it’s own identity.

Please take a moment to pop over to my new challenge site Multiverse Fiction Challenge and hit the follow button. There is not a challenge up yet but there will be very soon. By hitting that follow button you will be among the first to know when it is posted and it will also let me know I have made a good decision.

Again, thank you all for your support. Please let me know if you have any ideas, comments or suggestions. I would love to hear your opinions.

What if winter was as confused as we are?

So I am sitting in my living room tonight in a pair of shorts and t-shirt trying to cool off. I spent the afternoon at work sweating my ass off and couldn’t wait to get home, shower and then turn on the fan. Want to know what is so unusual about that? For one it has been one of the coldest winters in recent memory all over the U.S. with mountains of snow piling up in several states.

I live in North Carolina myself and just one week ago today we were in our third day of freezing rain, sleet and snow. We received over a foot all together and I personally lost power at my house for more than sixteen hours. Me, the wife and animals were all huddled up together with a small kerosene heater as the only source of heat and a few candles lit so we could see.

Then on Friday the 14th I heard about an earthquake not far from where I live. I didn’t feel it but according to news reports I probably should have. So just to sum up the last week or so on last Tuesday we received a couple inches of snow, Wednesday more snow, some ice and sleet, Thursday more snow and ice, Friday clear but freezing, roads messy and an earthquake. Skip forward to today and we have 70+ degrees.

Tomorrow the forecast is for thunderstorms. One radio report I heard today said we had a 100% chance of thunderstorms. I mean come on, just how much weirder can this weather get? I am starting to believe the most confused person this winter might be winter itself. Maybe all the talk of global warming has caused his mind to slip and he can’t figure out the best way to handle it.

So for now I am trying to stay cool for the first time this winter while staring at my heater and stack of blankets that just recently were my only sources of warmth. To top it off I heard talk today of another possible snowstorm that may be heading our way by next Friday. Just another episode in the weirdest winter ever.

What if I could roll with the punches?

I was reading comments today and I received one from a good blogging friend on my recent post What if I just wanted to scream? and he mentioned his hopefulness things were getting better. I just want to say they are slowly getting better. Today marks three weeks since I received the call my dad had passed and it sent shockwaves through my world. I think the aftershocks have finally quieted down and the seas are calming.

I’ve began my way back on my blogs having recently posted a fiction story I was proud of at JED’s Playhouse and my last post here was a more humorous one than I had done in a while and I enjoyed the response and comments I have received on both. I just agreed to take on a new exciting challenge submitted to me by Cimmorene with her Miss Nomer challenge. It sounds like a lot of fun so check it out and sponsor a contestant if you like the idea. You have until March 1st before the challenge goes live.

The family seems to be doing well. We are all still getting along and trying to check in on mom as much as possible. She is a tough woman who is able to handle most anything, but after almost fifty years with dad it’s been a change she was not close to being ready for. She is taking it day by day just as the rest of us and we are all trying to support her as much as possible without being overbearing or pushy.

I guess it’s a little like that classic song says

“I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down”

Then there is some random thing about pissing and I get confused but the part about getting up fits well. I just want everyone to know I am doing good and trying to roll with the punches, take life by the horns, get back on the saddle, dance to the beat of a different drum, ask not what your country can do – wait a minute. I think I got a bit off track somewhere.

Thank you all for the support you have given and stay tuned for much more to come. Thank you also goes out to my new authors who have helped keep the blog a lively place these last few weeks. Looks like there is going to be some enjoyable reads for a long time coming. What if you stuck around and enjoyed them?

What if I just wanted to scream?!!!!!

Do you ever feel the need to just take a minute to yourself, gather your thoughts and then let out a blood curdling scream unlike any other you have ever done before? That’s where I am right now. After a few weeks, months of up and down emotion then dealing with the loss of my father and in turn the reactions of family and friends I’m on the brink of a meltdown. Now this isn’t an I’m crazy, please clear the way or something bad could happen type of meltdown. It’s the I need a break, a little quiet time, a moment to spend with myself type.

Family is a wonderful thing and I am blessed to have a very large, loving family that gets along and doesn’t mind spending time together. At some point I just reached my limit for one on one time. I don’t mean to make it sound like I don’t want or need the interactions with others, I just need a little downtime as well which has been extremely tough to find recently.

This has become even more apparent at work this week as well. Along with all the friendly gestures of co-workers and clients I have been assigned to train two new employees. I figured at first, hey great maybe it can keep my mind occupied. After the first couple days the pressure has been building greatly and I feel the scream gnawing at my insides. You see I have been working the same job for more than ten years and know almost all the ins and outs, but these two newbies are fresh off the street. Both are cooperative and quick to learn, but the act of training is so stressful on top of the already built up stress of these past few months.

What if I challenged you to make me smile?

I know these last few weeks around the blogosphere have seen their share of chaos and I’ve been dealing with my own pain recently as well. After all that has happened I figured it was time for a little bit of fun and what better way to get it than to ask.

My challenge to my blogging friends, my blogging family is to come up with the silliest, the most unusual or the downright oddest what if you can that will bring a smile to my face. Can you make me laugh, bring tears of joy to my eyes and have me rolling on the floor?

Those of you who are authors here can choose to enter your posts here on the site or on your personal blog. If anyone wants to become an author and see their post on this blog let me now at thoughts@okaywhatif.com and I can add you as an author. Otherwise just link back or leave your link in the comments section.

What is your silliest What if thought? A few to play around with or give inspiration are

What if the Cookie Monster switched to alcohol?

What if an ant became president?

What if the NFL used golf balls instead of pigskins?

I am sure you can find an even sillier topic so have at it and let me know what you come up with. No rules or restrictions other than to be as odd as you can be. Looking forward to a few laughs this week. Thanks to all for your support.